A Calm Winter Night
by Solora Goldsun
Summary: "When the three hatchlings finally succeeded in tackling Astrid to the ground, nuzzling her exposed face triumphantly as her joyful laughter continued, Hiccup felt the chill of his flight melt away entirely." Takes place after "Gift of the Night Fury".


**Okay, so I'm obsessed with dragons. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm obsessed with dragons. Yet, I didn't see "How to Train your Dragon" until this previous summer. Why? Well, when it first came out, I wasn't sure about the design of the dragons. Also, I was convinced that Hiccup would be one of those stereotypical, awkward doofus characters that we've seen a billion times. Finally, after being told over and over how good it was, I caved and watched it. Holy crap, I was so wrong about everything! Not only did I love the movie, but I have watched "Gift of the Night Fury", "Legend of the Boneknapper", and am an avid fan of "DreamWorks Dragons".**

**Another thing I'm a huge fan of now is Hiccup/Astrid. Their romance seemed a little rushed in the movie, but the series made me crazy about it. It seems more realistic that they are still mostly friends, even after the kiss. They aren't a full couple yet, which I like. I also love the little moments in the series when Hiccup can be seen gazing at Astrid with that soft expression on his face. I swear, when he initiates a kiss, I may break the sound barrier with my shrieks.**

**Anyhoo, this takes place after "Gift of the Night Fury". There is fluff, baby dragons, and sleepy cuddles. My fluff stories are cavity-inducing. Just a warning. Enjoy!**

There was something special about flying above the clouds at night in the dead of winter, something other than the immediate numbing of all extremities and a few internal organs. The frigid air was as crisp and clean as the sound of a blacksmith hammer on a perfectly-made sword. The clouds looked like a dark forest of wispy, ghost bracken. Best of all, during this season of long nights, the stars seemed close enough to touch, like ice crystals forming on a Night Fury's wings.

Speaking of which… "Let's head down, bud! Don't wanna overdo it."

Toothless let out a growl of agreement, shaking off the tiny icicles that were trying to form on his neck as Hiccup folded his tail, causing them to sharply dive. For a moment, neither dragon nor rider could breathe as the frozen wind buffeted their faces. Then, as they cleared the clouds, Toothless's tail fanned out again, taking them into a steadier downward spiral.

"Phew! That's always a rush, huh Toothless?" Hiccup patted the dragon's shoulder, brushing some melting ice off. "I think that's a new record for how long we've been up there."

Toothless answered with a happy roar which turned into a loud sneeze that Hiccup almost immediately echoed.

"Hm. Maybe we shouldn't try to break this one." Sniffing loudly, he started to steer toward town, allowing himself to be lulled by the less-than-deadly temperature. It had been a week since Snoggletogg, and things were finally beginning to calm down: the houses that had exploded were almost rebuilt, the baby dragons were quickly adjusting, and the Yak Nog had been effectively and secretly disposed of. Colored lights still hung on the houses of those who didn't want the holiday season to end just yet.

Hiccup started to steer toward the festive lights when a soft glow from the beach caused him to turn his head. As they drew lower, he recognized a Deadly Nadder and her rider. "What are Stormfly and Astrid doing over here?" He brought Toothless down a few yards away. Amazingly, Astrid didn't seem to notice them. Hiccup quickly realized why.

Stormfly was lying down against the cliff, curled partially around Astrid, a tiny fire, and her three hatchlings. At the moment, it seemed that Astrid had taken the mantle of babysitter while her dragon dozed.

Astrid's face was hidden in her knees. Hiccup could hear muffled giggles as the three dragons pawed at her, one of them jumping on her back to try and shove its nose into the space between her shoulders and neck.

"Come on, guys! Where am I?" Astrid laughed, drawing her knees up more and using her arms to hide most of her head. Frustrated, the three tiny dragons redoubled their efforts to unearth their human's face.

Hiccup got off of Toothless and leaned against the cliff, a soft smile coming unbidden to his face. He couldn't remember ever hearing Astrid laugh like that. He was no stranger to her amused huff, her quiet snicker, or her sudden "HA!" that she would quickly cover as she tried to regain her composure. This laugh rang as clear and bright as glass bells, punctuated with loud snorts that Hiccup could only call hilariously adorable. It brought a special warmth to his chest, a gentler version of that thrilling moment during Astrid's first flight on Toothless, when she had wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder as they looked down at Berk. When the three hatchlings finally succeeded in tackling Astrid to the ground, nuzzling her exposed face triumphantly as her joyful laughter continued, Hiccup felt the chill of his flight melt away entirely.

Toothless, who had been patiently waiting for his trainer to do something, finally let out a bored sigh and roared a greeting to Stormfly, who growled sleepily in response. The babies immediately jumped off of Astrid and chirped excitedly at the new arrival. The Night Fury flashed his signature smile as he bounded over and flopped down next to the fire, allowing the little Nadders to climb on him.

Astrid was sitting up, hurriedly fixing her hair. Hiccup hoped she hadn't noticed his blatant, sappy stare… He walked over, sitting down in the sand next to her. "Hey."

"Hey." Astrid smiled sheepishly. "I didn't think anyone would be down here." Her cheeks were slightly flushed. _'At least it was Hiccup. I'd die if Snotlout or the twins saw that…'_

Catching her tone, Hiccup shrugged a shoulder. "You don't have to be embarrassed. They _are_ really cute."

Astrid's gaze immediately softened and she turned to watch the rambunctious hatchlings. She was amazed at how patient Toothless was being as they climbed on and nipped at him. "They sure are." After a moment, she scooted over and punched Hiccup in the arm.

"Ow!" Hiccup winced, rubbing the bruise. "Should've known that was coming."

"For sneaking up on me." Astrid smirked, turning to look at the hatchlings once more.

"I figured." Hiccup muttered, grinning ruefully as he slowly regained feeling in his arm. _'Does she try to hit this hard, or is this really a friendly punch for her?!'_ "So, have you named them?"

"Two of them." Astrid pointed toward the blue one, who was standing on Toothless's neck, growling as he tried to chew on the Fury's head plates. "He chews on everything he can find, so I named him Bluebite." She then looked at the green one, who was crawling around up and down Toothless's back. "Since you brought them back on Snoggletogg, I thought I'd name one of them in honor of the holiday, so I called her Holly."

"Bluebite and Holly." Hiccup nodded slowly. "They sound perfect." He looked toward the lavender hatchling, who was sniffing curiously at Toothless's tail. Seeming to sense his gaze, the little dragon looked up and trotted over, immediately jumping into Astrid's lap. Hiccup smiled and moved closer so he could stroke the Nadder's scales. "What about this little girl? Do you have any ideas, at least?"

Astrid shook her head. "None that really fit. She's really quiet and gentle compared to the others. Mom wanted to call her Princess, but I wanted to give her something stronger."

The lavender Nadder nuzzled Hiccup's palm, chirruping softly. "Good girl." He murmured affectionately before looking back at Astrid. "What kind of name do you want to give her?"

"Something beautiful, but powerful." Astrid brought a hand down to stroke the lavender's neck. Her fingers brushed against Hiccup's wrist, causing her face to flush slightly. The little dragonet's purr stopped her from moving her hand away, however.

A warm tingle traveled down Hiccup's arm and to his chest from where Astrid touched his wrist. "What about Freya?" He asked, scratching the hatchling under the chin.

"Freya, huh?" Astrid nodded her head slowly. "The goddess of beauty and war. It definitely fits." She looked down at the little dragon. "What do you think, Freya?"

The hatchling blinked up at Astrid with round, yellow eyes before letting out a happy chirp, nipping harmlessly at her hand.

Hiccup chuckled. "Looks like she likes it." By this point, the other dragons had stopped climbing on Toothless and were wandering over to their human caregivers. Little Holly, yawning loudly, decided to curl up on Hiccup's lap. Bluebite scuffed his feet in the sand before flopping down by the fire, near Toothless's snout. "Hey, there." The young Viking cooed, drawing the dozing green dragonet closer, stroking her tiny wings. "Did you show the big, bad Night Fury who's boss?" He asked, winking secretly at Toothless.

Astrid's heart melted as she watched Holly snuggle against Hiccup's stomach and listened to his soothing murmurs. After a moment's consideration, she scooted over until she and Hiccup were touching. To Hiccup's surprised, blushing glance, she quickly replied: "They like sleeping close together." This was technically true.

"R-Right." Hiccup gulped, turning his attention back to Holly. He quickly realized that focusing on the dragonet would be difficult on account of how warm his right arm, side, and leg now felt. Of course, how warm his _face_ felt was certainly the largest issue.

Despite her embarrassment, Astrid felt herself nodding off. Her eyelids drooped and she stifled a yawn as she hugged the now sleeping Freya. Her mind was becoming muzzy, which explained why she didn't move away immediately when her head came to a rest on Hiccup's shoulder. In fact, she didn't move away at all. His fur vest felt like the perfect pillow and the faint sound of his breathing was sweeter than any lullaby.

Hiccup briefly stiffened as Astrid's head moved to his shoulder. He turned toward her only to be met with a head of soft, sandy hair. He blinked, biting his lip. 'How likely is she to hit me if I…' Deciding to take a chance, he leaned in and nuzzled a kiss into her slightly-messy hair.

Too tired and content to formulate a false protest, Astrid hummed in approval, snuggling against Hiccup's side. Behind her, she heard Stormfly get up and move until the two humans were able to lean back against her warm scales.

Suppressing a yawn at the new warmth provided by Stormfly, Hiccup leaned down and touched his lips to Astrid's brow. In a moment of intense courage, he moved down even more to nuzzle her cheek. Her sleepy, blue eyes fluttered open and met his.

Any coherent thoughts that might have been left in Hiccup's mind vanished. In that moment, with the baby dragons fast asleep on their laps, with Stormfly and Toothless curled protectively around them, with those beautiful blue eyes gazing calmly into his, and with that drowsy, content smile illuminating Astrid's face, everything seemed right with the world. Eyes fluttering shut, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.

Astrid immediately returned the kiss, closing her eyes and bringing a hand up to rest on his cheek. Her palm felt like it was on fire. His face was probably the color of Hookfang at that moment. Her heart felt like it was pounding faster and harder than a dragon's wings!

She thought back to the previous kisses they had shared. The first had been a nervous peck on the cheek. The second had been a quick, but earnest expression of relief. The third had been a small attempt to comfort.

This… This was something else entirely. This was the first kiss that they had ever truly shared, the first mutual attempt at a deeper connection, the first time being truly kissed by Hiccup. She could _feel_ him in a way that she had never felt anything or anyone before. She felt his happiness, his contentment, and the slightest hint of anxiety. She nestled closer, stroking his cheek reassuringly. She loved how soft his skin felt in comparison to his slightly-chapped lips.

Hiccup sighed, moving back and lightly kissing the pad of Astrid's thumb. "I could get used to this." He muttered, snuggling his cheek against her palm and placing his hand over hers to keep it in place. "I could really get used to this."

For once, Astrid didn't have a smart comeback. Her focus was on his half-lidded, forest green eyes, on his hand that was rested on hers, and on his jawline which she was methodically stroking with her thumb. "Yeah. Me too." Slowly, cautiously, she lifted her other hand and placed it on his chest. _'Oh!'_

His heart was beating so quickly, she could hardly keep track, and she could have sworn that she felt it skip a beat as she touched his chest. Clichéd as it was, she wanted to rest her head on his chest and listen to that heartbeat. She started to move closer. Hiccup, sensing her intention, shifted to make it easier for her.

A tiny squawk of protest sounded from Astrid's lap and she stopped, laughing quietly as she quickly took her hand from Hiccup's chest, sat up straight, and began stroking Freya. "Did we wake you up? I'm sorry." She whispered, cradling the hatchling against her chest. It didn't take long to coax the lavender dragonet back into dreamland.

Hiccup was torn between being disappointed and amused. Looking down as Freya curled up, her tail twitching as she fell asleep again, he couldn't bring himself to be too irritated at the sudden interruption. Shaking his head, he grinned as Astrid looked up. "Little mood-killers." He laughed, looping an arm around her waist while keeping one soothing hand on Holly.

Astrid smiled, immediately relaxing against him, revisiting her recently-discovered shoulder pillow. She felt Hiccup rest his head on hers and nuzzled his shoulder affectionately. "Night, Hiccup." She sighed, closing her eyes and surrendering to the sleepy warmth that surrounded her. "Night, Stormfly…"

"Night." Hiccup pulled Astrid a little closer. "Goodnight, Toothless." He glanced at his dragon and smiled: Bluebite had moved from his position by the fire and was now curled up under the Night Fury's wing. "Don't roll over, okay?"

Toothless opened an eye and huffed before curling up further, drawing his wing completely over the tiny Nadder.

As Astrid's breathing grew steady, Hiccup felt a peaceful sleep overtaking him. Just before he drifted off, not caring if she was awake or not, he mumbled in the softest of voices: "Love you."

**This was fun. I imagined a scene like this pretty much since I saw "Gift of the Night Fury". I can definitely picture Hiccup completely melting after seeing Astrid snuggling a bunch of baby dragons. Hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned, because you'll be seeing more Hiccstrid fics from Channel Solora in the future. Peace out!**


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